WWE World Heavyweight Champion GUNTHER has delivered some choice words for Randy Orton ahead of their collision in Berlin, Germany. Speaking to Jim Varsalone, GUNTHER spoke about the 14-time WWE World Champion and his wasted potential.
“Randy’s career is undeniable. But on the other hand, we’ve got to be honest here, he was destined to be the greatest of all time, and with all the bad decisions he made in his career and all the issues he had he still is one of the greatest. But he wasted a lot of potential and I’m not in the business of wasting potential.”
GUNTHER didn’t stop there, adding that he has exceeded expectations, while he believes the opposite is true of WWE’s Apex Predator. The two will collide at WWE Bash in Berlin on August 31. The match will be GUNTHER’s first PLE title defense as World Heavyweight Champion while Orton hopes to break an unfortunate 40-month streak at PLEs.
Randy Orton’s Bad Decisions
While he has mellowed out considerably in recent years, Orton did make plenty of bad decisions early into his wrestling career. Orton reportedly pushed Amy Weber over during a flight, after she took some ibuprofen from the men’s locker-room when dealing with an injury. This incident, among others, would result in Weber leaving WWE in 2005.
Weber is not the only woman to have spoken up about Orton’s conduct. Maria Kanellis-Bennett claimed during her shoot interview with Kayfabe Commentaries that Orton shot fireworks from his car at the vehicle containing Maria and others. It has been claimed online for years that Orton defecated in the bag of former WWE Diva Rochelle Loewen, though she has since clarified that he defaced her bag with tanning lotion and baby oil, seemingly payback for Loewen not knowing who he was when she joined WWE.
The Viper’s off-screen outbursts would result in him being sent to an anger management course in Atlanta in 2006. Despite the four-week course, Orton was sent home from a European tour a year later after causing $50,000 worth of damage to a hotel room.
Orton has faced multiple Wellness Policy suspensions, though was brought back early from a suspension in 2006 so he could feud with Kurt Angle. In August 2007, Orton was named among eleven Superstars caught up in the Signature Pharmacy scandal who had purchased performance-enhancing drugs. The Legend Killer was not suspended and would capture the WWE Championship on two occasions mere months later.
On a December 2023 edition of the ImPaulsive podcast, Orton said he was an “a**hole” during the formative years of his career, saying that his poor behavior was “armor” as he wanted others to respect him. Orton added on the podcast that he was given second, third, and fourth chances by Vince McMahon.
For the use of quotes, please give an H/T to SE Scoops.
